The Next Doctors
by garfieldodie
Summary: AU. Follows on from Always Another Way. Donna arrives in Victorian London with a newly regenerated Doctor. The Cybermen are marching, there's a lady in red, and an odd man claiming that he is, in fact, the eleventh Doctor.
1. Two Elevenths

**Author's Notes: **_If you're reading this story, and you haven't read my other fic, _Always Another Way_, then go and do that real quick. One chapter long and it goes down a treat. If you don't, there's a twenty to one chance you won't know what's going on in this story. Or maybe you will. Maybe the person reading this fic is actually a bit clever. But then what's a clever person like you doing reading fanfiction in the first place? Anyway, I had fun writing _Always Another Way_, more than I expected. Retconning a bit of Doctor Who continuity that ticked me off was surprisingly entertaining. I decided to continue on from the ending of that story, to see if the Eleventh Doctor would handle the events of this story any differently than the Tenth. Let's find out, shall we?_

* * *

><p>It was a snowy day in Victorian London. Made sense, because it was late December and global warming hadn't kicked in yet.<p>

With a wheeze and a grind and a roar from another world, the TARDIS materialized under a stone bridge on a street corner.

The door swung open and out stepped a young man in a brown suit, trying to keep his long brown coat from falling off as it had suddenly become a bit big on him. He smiled when he saw the snow falling.

"Ahh, brilliant!" he exclaimed. "Love a bit of snow! Come on, Donna! Let's have a looksy!"

Donna had put on a newer, heavier jacket in the interim journey, and she stepped outside glad she had, but she was more focused on the man before her. "Doctor, are you sure you're alright?"

"'Course I'm alright! I'm always alright!" he said with a grin.

Donna gave him a stern look, and he deflated slightly.

"Okay, I'm not _always_ alright. In fact, there have been lots of times I've been very much _not _all right. But I am all right now. Look: snow! I love snow!"

"Yeah, yeah, pretty. Look, mister, you just changed your whole body. I don't know much about this regeneration lark, but it can't be _that _nice."

"The process itself isn't pleasant, no, but the aftereffects… Well, actually they can be rather bad too, but I'm fine now! Honestly! Fit as a tuba! Wait, no, that's not right. Which instruments feel good?"

"Doctor…"

"Wind instrument? Percussion?"

"Doctor, you're not well. You can't go gallivanting off into some weird time period. What if something happens to you?"

"Nothing'll happen. I just – _argh_!" he said as he suddenly clutched his chest and fell to his knees in the lovely snow.

Donna knelt down by his side in an instant. "See, what'd I tell you?"

"No, no, I'm fine! It's okay!" the Doctor moaned. "This is all perfectly normal!" And then he spasmed again and froze. His mouth unhinged and he released a small flow of golden dust from his mouth.

They watched it float away and vanish the air.

"What the hell was that?" Donna asked.

"Leftovers," the Doctor mumbled, looking at his hands, which were giving off a faint glow. "I'm still cooking."

"Still cooking?"

"I'm not done yet. Insides are still changing, shifting, migrating and so forth. Just need to catch my breath. Little fresh air will do me good. Just walk about, mill around and can you hear Christmas carols?"

Donna looked at him and then listened carefully.

It _was _a Christmas carol.

The Doctor grinned. "Must be Christmastime!" he exclaimed, and in one movement, he was back on his feet. "How appropriate! The last time I regenerated, my first stop was Christmastime! And you and I _met _on Christmas! It's like an anniversary of something or other!"

Donna stared at him incredulously before grinning slightly. "Guess it is a bit, yeah. I dunno. I lost the ability to keep track of time ever since I threw in with you."

"Yeah, that happens. So many different time zones, I swear. I forgot how old I am centuries ago, or maybe it was minutes ago. Not sure. Time is relative, and I travel so much. So many different worlds with so many different concepts of time. Some planets have _no _concepts of time. Am I talking too fast, Donna Noble?"

"A bit, yeah," Donna said, holding up her finger and thumb together.

"_Yeah_, to sum up, wibbly wobbly timey wimey, or words to that effect. Now then, _Christmas_! Shall we have a nice relaxing Christmas?"

"…Okay."

And they interlocked arms and headed out into the town square.

It was bustling. Working Class London at it's finest. The whole place was busy and bustling. Vendors trying to sell them things, a group of lads laughing together, girls working away, crones, braziers, beggars, smoke, steam, and even a chicken.

The Doctor grinned at it all. This is why he traveled.

They stopped to look at the carolers and listened to the jolly song they were singing.

"Beautiful," the Doctor said. "Magnificent. Victorian Times, I'd wager. Mid to late 1850's."

"How'd you know that?" Donna asked.

"Oh, just look around, Donna. Use your eyes. Notice everything. It's all very _Dickens_, this place."

"I only saw the Muppet version of _A Christmas Carol_."

"Oh… Just as well. That's the closest version to the book anyway."

"Except the real Charles Dickens wasn't small, blue, furry and friends with a rat."

"No, he wasn't, actually… Still, nice place, this. Bit dull…"

"Doctor!"

They both looked over their shoulders at the woman's voice that came from behind them.

The Doctor blinked. "…who, me?" he asked, rather pointlessly.

"_Doctor_!" the voice shouted again.

The Doctor grinned cluelessly and ran, Donna right behind him.

They passed through the square and down an alley between two warehouses. They rounded a corner and saw the woman yelling. Young black woman, looked like a serving wench, was looking fearfully at something that looked like it was trying to break its way out of a big wooden door.

"Right, hang on! Not to worry! I'm here! What's the problem? Ooh, looks like someone forgot their key. Someone big, strong and possibly dangerous. Maybe you should go ahead and get out of here."

But the woman ignored him and shouted again. "_Doctor_!" she shouted again.

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm right here! Don't shout in my ear! Let me handle this."

"Don't be stupid! Who are you?" the woman demanded.

"Oh, praise, she can say other things! Hello, I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"…Just the Doctor."

"Well, there can't be two of you!"

The Doctor stopped moving and stopped to stare at her. He glanced at Donna, who looked just as confused.

"_Two _of me?" he repeated, readdressing the woman. "But…which one? Is it the one with the scarf? Celery? Recorder? Any of these things ringing a bell?"

"What are you on about?"

"How about coat? Nice bright colorful coat? I _loved _my coat! I wonder if I still have it…"

"_Doctor_!" the woman shouted again.

"How about question marks? Lots of question marks? Don't know what I was thinking. Ace eventually convinced me to switch it out with a nice red waistcoat. Wise decision. My enemies started taking me much more seriously after that."

"Doctor," this time from Donna. "Shouldn't you be doing something about that?" she asked, gesturing towards the door, which was shaking madly.

"Ah, yes, good point."

"Where the hell have _you _been?" the woman suddenly shouted.

She was shouting past them now, so the Doctor and Donna turned to look. They saw an unfamiliar man running towards them. He had thinning brown hair, bit of bluster, waistcoat and frock coat and looked rather exhilarated by the whole thing.

"Right then," he announced, taking charge of the situation. "Don't worry! Stand back! What've we got here?"

"Hold on, hold on, who are you?" Donna demanded.

"I'm the Doctor. Simply the Doctor. The one, the only, and the best."

The Doctor stared at him, his eyes widening.

And then the door banged again, causing the Next Doctor focus on that instead.

"Rosita, hand me the sonic screwdriver."

Rosita handed him a screwdriver, but the Doctor was still reeling from this news.

"Who? The what?" he asked, looking very confused.

"Now quickly, get back to the TARDIS."

"Back to the _what_?"

"If you could stand back, sir, this is a job for Time Lord!"

The Doctor boggled. "Job for a _what _Lord?"

And then the doors burst open with a loud bang that caused everyone to back away, startled.

It had the face of a Cyberman, wearing it like a mask. The rest of it, however, looked like some strange black hairy creature, like a gorilla with a Halloween mask on. The only other signs of metal were the spindly metal hands, surprisingly thin and slender.

Clearly, both Doctors were surprised.

"Whoa, that's new!" they both exclaimed.

The Doctor fished out his own screwdriver and aimed at the same time as the Next Doctor.

"Allons-y!" the other Doctor shouted.

The Doctor looked at him, startled, while Donna watched all this in silent wonder.

"But what is it? What's it doing here?" the Doctor asked.

"It's fallen right into my trap!" the Next Doctor exclaimed. "I've been hunting this beast for a good fortnight now. Stand back!"

But then the beast leapt several stories up the adjacent vertical wall without any visible effort. It looked back down at them and hissed menacingly. The Doctor watched it in wonder.

"What is it?" Donna asked.

"Some sort of primitive conversion," the Doctor replied. "Like it took the brain of a cat or dog."

"What do we do about it then?"

"Well, talking is all very well," the Next Doctor interrupted. "Rosita!"

"I'm ready," the woman replied, handing him a coil of rope.

And the Next Doctor readied the rope, which the Doctor noted was tied into a lasso. "And now," he said with a smirk. "Watch and learn!"

The Doctor watched with interest as the other Doctor lassoed the creature on the first throw. But he found himself a bit annoyed with his future self's pompous attitude. He hoped his new incarnation isn't _quite _this full of himself, as opposed to the one in front of him.

"Excellent! Now then, let's pull this timorous beastie down to Earth."

And then the 'timorous beastie' started climbing even higher, and the other man was suddenly being lifted up into the air behind him.

"Or not," the Doctor murmured, ignoring Donna's quiet fits of laughter at the comical scene.

"Ah. I might be in a little bit of trouble," the Next Doctor said awkwardly as he dangled from above.

"As per usual," the Doctor grinned, grabbing the end of the rope and wrapping it around his wrist. "Hang about! I've got you! And do me a favor and forget that bad joke. Don't know where that came from."

And then, he was suddenly up, up and away as well, hanging on desperately as now both Doctors were dragged up the wall. Donna was still laughing, now at both of them, and he wished for half a second she wasn't here.

"You idiots!" Rosita shouted.

"Yes, thank you, madam," the Doctor replied. "Shouting at us seems to be doing the trick. Well done, keep at it. You're bound to save us."

Rosita looked _very _annoyed by that, but Donna just grinned. "Sorry, he's a bit out of sorts at the moment," she said.

"I am not!"

"Perhaps if you could pull…?" the other Doctor suggested from above.

"I _am _pulling! In this position, I couldn't not pull, could I?"

"Then I suggest you let go, sir."

"I'm not letting you out of my sight, Doctor! Don't you recognize me?"

"No. Should I? Have we met? This is hardly the right time for me to go through my social calendar – _whoa_!"

And then the cyber-creature hauled them both up and through a window into a huge warehouse. They were being dragged along the hard, dusty floor, hoping their were no nails sticking up out of it. And then they realized that the beast was heading for a window.

"It's gonna jump!" the Doctor shouted.

"We're gonna fall!" the other Doctor agreed.

And then, at the last second, just as the creature had leapt through the window and across the gap, Rosita appeared out of the darkness and swung an axe that cut the rope. Both Doctors slid to a halt and came to a rest at last, sitting in a cloud of kicked-up dust.

Donna came out of hiding as well, looking out the window for the creature. "It's gone!" she called out. "Jumped the gap and kept going. I think we're safe now."

But the Doctors weren't listening. They were staggering up right again, rubbing their sore backsides and laughing like two schoolboys. They were dazed and in their relief, they pulled each other into a hug, giddy as hell.

"You two alright? Suddenly lose the ability to _let go of the rope_?" Donna asked, her lips twitching.

"Yeah, fine," the Doctor said, missing the commentary on his own ignorance. "Stop worrying about me. I'm fine! Fit as a fiddle… Oh! Fiddle! Well, that's a rubbish metaphore, isn't it? What's a fiddle got to do with being fit?"


	2. Swathes of Stolen Memories

They came down from the warehouse and into a small, enclosed courtyard. Both Doctors were giggling away at their little misadventure while Donna guided them along. Rosita was very much quick and to the point.

"Well!" she said rather loudly. "I'm glad you think it's so funny! You're mad, both of you! You could've got killed!"

"But evidently we did not," the other Doctor chuckled as he took the quick road to recovery. "Oh, I should introduce Rosita. My faithful companion, always telling me off."

"Well, they do, don't they?" the Doctor said with a knowing nod.

"Oi," Donna said, smacking his arm lightly.

The Doctor grinned kindly at Rosita. "Lovely name, Rosita. Like a name in a fairytale."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, clearly too cross to focus on greeting him properly. "Now I'll have to go and dismantle the traps. All that for nothing, and we've only got twenty minutes to the funeral, don't forget, then back to the TARDIS, right?"

"Funeral?" the Doctor asked as she stormed off down the alley.

"Oh, long story," the other Doctor replied tiredly. "Not my own, not yet. I'm not as young as I was."

The Doctor looked curious. "Really? You don't look that old. Still a bit fresh-faced. Not too much wear and tear, though clearly you've seen quite a bit due to the shadows under your eyes."

The other Doctor looked at him in surprise, but a grin on his face as well. "Quite remarkable deductive skills for such a young man," he remarked. "Most impressive. Yes, I have seen quite a bit in my time."

"Yeah, that seems to be my thing now. Just picked it up," the Doctor grinned, feeling rather pleased with himself. He was starting to get a handle on who he was now.

"And what is your name, sir?"

The Doctor frowned slightly, confused. "Don't you recognize me?" he asked.

"You said we'd met somewhere before… You'll have to refresh my memory, young man."

A brief pause for some thought, and then the Doctor decided: "Oh, I'm Ian Foreman," he said swiftly. "Studying medicine. On holiday with my friend here, Donna. Came to enjoy the sights. Heard all about you, though, Doctor. Haven't we, Donna?"

Donna looked a bit startled at being included in the conversation. "Yeah! Yeah, we have. Bit of a legend you are, Doctor," she said quickly.

"Modesty forbids me to agree with you, madam," the other Doctor replied. "But yes. Yes, I am."

The Doctor smirked momentarily, but then looked wary. "A legend with…certain memories missing. Am I right?"

"How do you know that?"

"You've forgotten me…"

"Are you important to me?"

"…Perhaps… Funny thing, memory…"

The other Doctor didn't seem to note the sorrow in the Doctor's voice, and he began to explain his situation. "Great swathes of my life have been stolen away," he admitted. "When I turn my mind to the past, there's nothing."

"Going how far back?"

"Since the Cybermen," he said with a sigh. "Masters of the hellish warscuttler and old enemies of mine, now at work in London Town. You won't believe this, Mr. Foreman, but they are creatures from another world."

"No, really? Wow," the Doctor replied flatly, while Donna grinned slightly behind him.

"'Tis said they fell onto London out of the sky in a blaze of light. And they found me."

A half-buried memory shifted in the Doctor's mind that he tried to get a better look at, but it wasn't very clear right now.

"Something was taken," the other Doctor continued, "and something was lost." He stared into a fire-lit barrel for a moment before looking up again. "What was I like in the past?"

The Doctor grinned sadly. "Gotta be careful with memory loss, Doctor," he said. "One wrong word. Learned about that in school. Dodgy business…"

"Strange, though… I talk of Cybermen from the stars and you don't blink, Mr. Foreman."

"Ah-ha! Don't blink! Remember that? Whatever you do, don't blink? With the blinking and the statues and Sally and the angels and… No?"

The other Doctor faintly shook his head. "You're a very odd man."

"You figured that one out alright," Donna murmured.

"Seems I always will be," the Doctor said quietly, ignoring her, looking his 'other self' over. "Something's wrong here."

"Oh, the funeral!" the other Doctor said suddenly. "The funeral's at two o'clock. It's been a pleasure, Mr. Foreman. Don't breathe a word of it."

"Couldn't I come with you?" the Doctor asked, not wanting to lose sight of this other man who claimed to be him.

"Far too dangerous for a young man with his life ahead of him. Rest assured, I shall keep this city safe. Oh, and Merry Christmas, Mr. Foreman."

"Merry Christmas, Doctor."

And the other Doctor hurried away.

The Doctor watched him leave for a moment before collapsing to his knees again. Donna was at his side in a second.

"Doctor…?" she asked worriedly.

"Thought he'd never go…," the Doctor muttered, clutching his sides in agony. "By the way, 'bit of a legend'? Really?"

"Shut up."

"I'm touched!"

"Well, what about 'Ian Foreman'? Where'd that come from? What about John Smith?"

"Dunno. I just don't feel like a 'Smith' in this body."

"Doctor, what's wrong?" she demanded.

"Still regenerating. Not quite right yet. Hang on…"

And he took three deep breaths, waited a moment, and then – _whack! _He smacked himself hard on the head. And then he grinned and was back on his feet again.

"There! Just a quick jolt to the neural implosions. Should tide me over for a bit longer," he said.

"I'll jolt yourimplosions _myself_ in a minute. What's wrong with you?"

"Not done yet. Need a little more time… Oh, I wish I could just sleep it off like last time…"

"There's still time. Whatever those Cybermen are up to, maybe they're not starting for awhile yet."

"No, no, you heard him. They've been here awhile. Whatever they're up to, they're probably getting ready to implement it. We need to keep at it."

"Doctor, you're in no fit state to walk in a straight line, let alone stop an army of Cybermen! For heaven's sake, just sit this one out! You've already got another you on the case!"

"Yeah, that's another thing I'm worried about."

And he broke into a fairly healthy-looking sprint as he chased after the other Doctor. Donna sighed heavily and followed him.

* * *

><p>The snow had stopped falling by now.<p>

The other Doctor and Rosita were in a rather posh part of town. They hid on the opposite side of the street, watching a hearse pass them by pulled by horses, followed by a second carriage and mourners marching behind.

"The late Reverend Fairchild," the other Doctor murmured, "leaving his place of residence for the last time. God rest his soul. Now, with the house empty, I shall affect an entry at the rear while you go back to the TARDIS. This is hardly work for a woman."

That naturally angered Rosita. "Oh, don't mind me saving your life. That's work for a woman, isn't it?"

"The Doctor's companion does what the Doctor says," the other Doctor said, surprisingly calm.

Rosita huffed and stomped off down the street, away from the funeral, not noticing the Doctor and Donna watching from nearby, they had been listening in on their conversation.

The Doctor glanced at Donna thoughtfully, but she just glared at him. "Don't even think about it," she muttered warningly.

"Wouldn't dream of it," the Doctor replied with a playful grin.

"What do we do now?"

"Well, if he's going to explore the house, I'd better help him out. He seems a bit lost. Plus, I saw his sonic screwdriver. It's rubbish."

"Is it possible, though? Can there really be two of you in the same time and place?"

"When you travel around as often as I do, you're bound to run into yourself at some point. Doesn't happen _very _often, but it does. Not like this, though. Very odd."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm still completely new. Nothing's tested, nothing works, not sure who I am yet. Same with him. He knows he's the Doctor, but nothing else. 'Course, he's got it worse. His memories have fled from him. Strange…"

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Follow the funeral, if you don't mind. See what happens there. Something interesting might turn up. Find out what you can and report back."

"Report back where, exactly?"

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that was long and rectangular like a remote control, except instead of buttons it had lights on it. "Take this," he said. "It's linked with the sonic. It'll lead you back to be me, wherever I am."

"Right," she said, pocketing it. "You be careful, yeah?"

"Ahh, don't worry about me…," he grinned. "I'll be fine."

She gave him one of her very pointed looks. "You always say that."

And then the Doctor's cocky grin became surprisingly gentle. He gave her hands a reassuring squeeze, and suddenly, Donna felt like a little girl being reassured by her gramps.

"Trust me," he said in a whispery kind voice. "I'm the Doctor."

And he clapped her shoulder and then bolted across the street after the other Doctor, who had vanished behind the house.

Donna watched him, stunned by how reassured she felt. In his last incarnation, she'd felt like she always had to look out for him to make sure he didn't get hurt, physically and emotionally, and he always needed a hug at the end of the day. Now he felt like he would hug her and look after her in a way he never did before.

She shook her head out of these thoughts and set off after the funeral march.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>_It got a bit tricky trying to differentiate Eleven's quirks from Ten's for this story, but I think I managed pretty well, considering._


	3. Lady in Red

The other Doctor snuck around the back of the house and found a back door. He knelt and took out his screwdriver. He was just beginning to work on the lock when the lock suddenly reversed away from him, along with the entire door, and there was the Doctor, grinning at him.

"Hello again!" he said cheerily.

"But…how did you get in?" the other Doctor asked, rather astonished.

"Front door. I'm good with doors. Told you I should've come. Is that your screwdriver?"

"I'd be lost without it," he replied, holding it up with pride.

The Doctor stared at the plain old screwdriver. "But…that's a screwdriver. How's it sonic?"

"Well…it makes a noise," the other Doctor explained, tapping it against the side of the door. "That's sonic, isn't it?"

"Erm… I suppose it could be considered sonic, yeah…"

"Now as we're acting like common burglars, I suggest we get out of plain view."

"Yes, of course. Come on in."

Once they were both inside and the door firmly shut behind them, they took in their surroundings.

It was a two-story house, owned by an old man, yet most of the furniture was still there. As they walked further inside, the other Doctor examined some of the artifacts lying around, while the Doctor studied his other self.

"You should make your escape, Mr. Foreman," the other Doctor replied. "I have work to do."

"Oh, but what good's the Doctor without a companion? I know I'd be lost without Donna backing me up, and that Rosita is cleverer than she seems. I could tell. I take it we're looking for traces of alien infiltration?"

"Indeed."

"Gathered as much. Sounds fun."

"It can be, I suppose."

They wandered into the drawing room, a large and austere room with the curtains drawn in respect for the dead. They both poked about experimentally.

"So what prompted an investigation in Victorian London?" the Doctor asked.

"It all started with a murder."

"Ah-ha. Yes. I see. Whose?"

"Mr. Jackson Lake. A teacher of mathematics from Sussex. He came to London three weeks ago, died a horrible death."

"Cybermen?"

"Hard to say, his body was never found… But then it started. More secret murders. Then abductions. Children, stolen away in silence."

The Doctor's face darkened. He didn't like that at all.

"So I take it this is the house of the recently deceased Reverend Fairchild then?"

"Indeed, he was the latest victim. Found with burns on his forehead, like some advanced form of electrocution."

"But who was he? Was he important?"

The other Doctor glanced at him. "You ask a lot of questions."

The Doctor shrugged with a grin. "I'm your companion!"

"The Reverend was a pillar of the community. A member of many Parish Boards, a keen advocate of children's charity…"

"Children again…"

"He was famously good to them. He'd disciplined them, birched them, send them to the Workhouse."

The Doctor scowled. "Yeah, Victorian times, lovely, but why would the Cybermen want him dead? And what's his connection to the first fella, Jackson Lake?"

But the other Doctor stopped, looking rather worried as he turned to face the Doctor. "It's funny, I seem to be telling you everything. As though you engender some sort of…trust. I don't recognize your face at all, and yet…something makes me trust you. Something familiar about you…"

The Doctor's eyes flitted downwards towards the other Doctor's waistcoat. "I can't help but notice," he said quietly, "that you're wearing a fobwatch."

The other Doctor looked down at the fobwatch-on-a-chain tucked into his pocket. He took it out carefully. "Is that important?"

"Legend has it that the memories of a Time Lord can be contained within a watch. May I?"

The other Doctor handed him the fobwatch curiously. Both were rather nervous about this.

"It's said that if it's opened…," the Doctor began.

And he popped it open. And all it's bits and bops fell out on the floor.

"Oh. Guess not. Sorry about that," he finished, looking at the mess on the floor.

The other Doctor smiled, the tension now gone. "It was mostly for decoration," he said with a shaky laugh.

"Mm-hmm. So! Anyway, alien infiltration…"

And they resumed business as if it never happened.

"Just look for anything different, possibly metal, anything that doesn't belong, perhaps a mechanical device that would fit no earthly engine, it could even seem to be organic, though unlike any organism of the natural world…," the other Doctor went on.

Deciding they needed to save time, the Doctor popped out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the room quietly. It made a slight 'blip' when he passed the bureau, but he had to put it away again when the other Doctor heard the whirring noise.

"What's that noise?" he asked.

"Oh, that's just me, whistling," the Doctor replied, and he whistled a bit to prove it. "Wonder what's in here though."

And he pulled open the bureau and looked inside.

"Jackpot!" he exclaimed. "Come here, you beauties!"

The other Doctor came over and saw the Doctor pulling out three cylindrical metal objects.

"Different and metal, you were right," he said, picking one up. "They're Infostamps! I mean, at a guess, if I were you, I'd say they worked something like this…"

He held up the Infostamp, pressed a button at one end and a projection streamed from it. Yellow graphics, projected in a circle on the wall, giving an ever-changing display of writing, charts, maps, never stopping and too fast to read.

"Ah-ha! Compressed information. Tons of it! That's the history of London, 1066 to the present day, this thing's like a disk, a Cyberdisk! But why would the Cybermen need something so simple…? They've gotta be wireless. Unless, they're in the wrong century, they haven't got much power, they need plain old basic Infostamps to update themselves… Are you alright?"

He switched off the Infostamp and approached the other Doctor, who was clutching another Infostamp as if in pain.

"…I'm fine," he replied.

"Heh. Yeah, good one. Seriously, what's wrong?"

"…I've seen one of these before… I was holding this device… It was the night I lost my mind… The night I…regenerated… The Cybermen… They made me change… My face… My mind… My whole self… And there was another man…"

"What did he look like?"

"Tall…thin…mad brown hair… A sad look in his eyes…and a suit like yours… Did you know him?"

The Doctor wasn't sure how to reply. That was an apt description of his previous incarnation, but if that was the last face he remembered, what had become of him? Was this body going to be taken away? Would he somehow regenerate backwards sometime, and _then _turn into this poor broken man before him?

It didn't ring true…

"…Yes, I know him," he said at last.

"Tell me then, Ian, is he alive today?"

"…Yes, he is. He's very much alive right now," the Doctor said with a small grin.

"Good. He might be important to this then… I must find him somehow."

"You will. Don't worry. Might be closer than you think. _Anyway_, this is no conversation for a dead man's house," he said, getting up and strolling around the room. "It'll make more sense if we go back to the TARDIS. _Your _TARDIS, of course, hold on though. Want to do one last check to be sure… Won't take tick, 'cause there's one more thing, I can't help thinking, if this room's got Infostamps, then maybe, just maybe, it's got something that needs infostamping…"

And impulsively he swung open an interior door and came face to face with a Cyberman.

"Okay," he said quickly.

He shut the door and headed towards the other Doctor.

"I think we should run," he said matter-of-factly.

And with a loud crash, the door was knocked flat on the floor, and the Cyberman stormed out into the open.

"Delete!" he said in a techy monotone voice.

The other Doctor got to his feet in shock. He felt frozen for a moment.

"Run, Doctor! We need to _run_!" the Doctor shouted, feeling like he was talking to himself. He quickly pulled the other man into the next room and slammed the door on the drawing room, locking it with the sonic. They started to run towards the back of the house, but they could hear stomping, signaling that another Cyberman was on it's way.

They started to run back again, but the first Cyberman did to this door like it did to the other one banged it off its hinges and to the floor.

Then the Doctor spotted an umbrella stand and started looking through it for a weapon. "Stairs – we can't lead it outside!" he explained.

And then he saw a cutlass on the wall. He leapt over and grabbed it, and then started reversing up the stairs, the other Doctor behind him, looking terrified.

And now the Cybermen were marching up after them.

"Ah! I'm a dab hand with a cutlass!" the Doctor crowed. "At least, I think I am. I had a swordfight the Sycorax once. Hope that carried over. Maybe not. Anyway, you don't want to come near me when I've got one of these either way. This is your last warning."

They weren't exactly paying attention. He and the other Doctor had to back up several stairs.

"No? Okay, _this _is your last warning! No? Okay, then _this _is _really _your last warning!"

But it soon grew a bit pointless as he found himself constantly backpedaling up the stairs. The Cybermen kept at it, saying 'Delete' over and over again. Finally, he reached the middle landing and tried negotiations. Difficult business with a race that had such a superiority complex, but worth a shot.

"Listen to me. Whatever you're doing, it's not going to make any difference," he said as he fought them off. "Listen to me! Please!"

"Delete," droned the Cyberman, knocking the cutlass to one side.

"I'm the Doctor!" he yelled at last, momentarily forgetting who he was supposed to be. "I'm the only one who could possibly help you! Check your memory banks! I'm the Doctor! Leave this man alone!"

And then he felt it. It came so suddenly he almost wasn't sure what it was. But the regeneration sickness picked a bad time to show up. It seemed to pull the Doctor down on the floor. He was on his back, trying to keep fighting, but the Cyberman towered over him. He barely managed to gain his senses back and promptly pushed against the metal man with his feet, knocking him away and allowing him to stand again, although he clearly wasn't well.

"The… The Doctor is _me_!" he moaned, trying to keep going. "I'm the Doctor! Look at me! Scan me, or something, and you'll see! You need me alive! You need the Doctor, and that's me!"

And then the Cyberman grabbed the cutlass in both hands and threw it away, leaving the Doctor defenseless. He stared at them warily and dizzily.

"Oh blimey, this is _not _a good time," he moaned.

And then there was a blue-and-white light from behind him. An incredible amount of electricity zapped out of the other Doctor's Infostamp, and it seemed to immediately strike the Cybermen in their heads. Both began to twitch and shudder.

The Doctor scrambled to his feet and joined his other self.

The Cybermen dropped to their knees, holding their heads, which then exploded, sending tiny bits of metal all across the room.

They stared at the bodies of the Cybermen for a moment before the Doctor grinned tiredly at the other Doctor and slid to the floor in exhaustion, massaging his chest in slight pain. "Phew! Good timing. Don't think I would've survived that…"

"What happened to you?" the other Doctor asked.

"Oh, just a cramp…," the Doctor replied, waving him off. "You, though, good thinking. Infostamp with a cyclo-stone core! You ripped open the core and broke the safety! Zap! Only the Doctor would think of that!"

But the other Doctor was shaking slightly, looking very afraid. "I did that," he said quietly. "Last time."

Feeling the soreness in his chest fading for now, the Doctor struggled back to his feet. He reached into his suit's inner-pockets and pulled out his stethoscope. "Come on then, you'll be okay," he said soothingly. "Let's have a look at that, shall we?"

"You told them you were the Doctor. Why did you do that?"

"Oh, just protecting you. You've got a job to finish. I'm expendable."

"Friends are _never _expendable…"

"Glad to hear it. Let's have a look."

He pressed the stethoscope against the other Doctor's chest and listened carefully on both sides.

But the other Doctor had more to say. "You tried to take away the only thing I've got. Like they did. They stole something. Something so precious," and he felt the tears streaming down his face. "But I can't remember. What happened to me? What did they do?"

And the Doctor looked at him as he listened through the stethoscope. He knew the truth now.

"We'll find out," he promised. "You and me together."

* * *

><p>Donna had run as fast as she could to keep up with the funeral march. She found herself in a Victorian graveyard, just out of town and lined by trees. There was a heavy snow, and a mist had fallen as well, giving it a very atmospheric look.<p>

The grave was lined by twenty mourners and not a woman to be seen, so Donna thought it best to hide behind one of the trees and observe from there.

The Vicar read from his book to the deceased. "Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy, to take unto Himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord, Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working…"

He glanced up for a moment and nearly fell over in surprise.

Donna followed his eye line and saw a figure in the snow approaching them. She couldn't quite make out who it was through the mist.

The flustered Vicar tried to continue, but he was just too, shall we say, 'freaked out' to go on.

At last, Donna could make out the person properly. It was a woman dressed in red. Now Donna wasn't heavily religious, but even _she _knew it was bad to wear anything other than black at a funeral. And this woman was very much dressed in red. Even her parasol was red.

Everyone was outraged.

"Do continue," the woman said with false kindness.

The Vicar stammered. He seemed to be trying to decide whether to continue blessing this dead man whom he was almost certain wasn't listening anyway, or to berate this woman for interrupting a holy ceremony. He chose the latter because it was easier.

"Madam, I must protest!" he exclaimed.

"Whatever for?" the woman replied.

"A lady at the graveside is debatable enough. But your apparel…!"

"Is it too exciting?"

"You're disgracing the ceremony, dressed like a harlot!" a sixty-year-old mourner cut in angrily.

"Oh, and you should know, Mr. Cole."

"How'd you know my name?"

"You've walked past me, so many times, all you good men of charity. Never once asking my name."

"It's Miss Hartigan, isn't it?" another mourner asked, confused.

"Oh, _you _noticed. I saw you looking. Cheeky boy."

"I'm sorry, but who is she?" the Vicar asked.

"Matron of St. Joseph's Workhouse. Your humble servant," Miss Hartigan replied. "Oh, I've watched you all. Visiting. Smiling. Bestowing your beneficence upon the poor while I scrubbed down their filthy beds."

"I must insist that you depart," the Vicar attempted bravely.

"But that's why the late Reverend Fairchild had to die," she continued, ignoring him. "To gather you all in one place. Where better than a funeral? Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live, although I've got some friends who might disagree with that. Would you like to meet them? Hark! I hear them now!"

Donna had been listening in on the conversation and looked around nervously. Whoever her friends are, she seemed confident in them, and she wanted to make sure they weren't coming after her. But she couldn't see anyone.

But she could hear something.

_Stomp, stomp, stomp_…

More silhouettes were appearing through the mist. Whoever they were, they were very tall.

The mourners looked around fearfully, listening to the stomping with growing horror.

And then they were there: Cybermen.

"Now," Miss Hartigan went on, "Mr. Cole, Mr. Scoones, Mr. Fetch, Mr. Milligan, please stay where you are. You're needed. The rest of you are disposable. Sorry."

"But what manner of men are they?" the Vicar asked.

"Cybermen."

And then more of that creature from earlier came barreling out from behind the gravestones, hissing threateningly at the mourners, who started running in panic. They ran all across the graves, yelling, shouting, and kicking up snow.

But Cybermen somehow managed to be wherever the mourners were, and simply by reaching out and touching them, the men dropped dead under a flare of electricity.

Donna watched all this in horror from her hiding place, silently observing the deaths and screaming men. Finally, she could take no more of this and fled the scene, pulling out the device and tracking the Doctor back down.


	4. The Truth Comes Out

Rosita ran towards the Doctors as the strolled tiredly down a factory street, looking relieved and overjoyed.

"I thought you were dead!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around the other Doctor.

The Doctor smiled at the scene, but the other Doctor seemed a bit embarrassed. "Now, now, Rosita," he said hastily. "A little decorum, if you please?"

"You've been gone so long!" she said as she released him, turning to face the Doctor. "He's always doing this, leaving me behind going frantic!"

"But what about the TARDIS?" the other Doctor asked.

"Oh, she's ready. Come on!"

"Looking forward to this," the Doctor murmured.

He found himself being led into a brick building. It had once been abandoned, filled with barrels and crates, and now it had a layer of junk on top. Piles of luggage, a wooden bed, a table and chairs, and a few other accoutrements lined the walls.

The Doctor looked around, impressed with the layout. "Nice," he remarked. "Very homely."

"You were right, though, Rosita," the other Doctor said. "The Reverend's death was the work of the Cybermen."

"So what's this then, little getaway?"

"A temporary base until we rout the enemy. The TARDIS is magnificent, but it's hardly a home."

"And where's the TARDIS now?"

"In the yard, but the chill of this weather demands a better coat…"

The other Doctor set about searching through the pile of clothes. The Doctor watched him, slightly bemused, before turning to Rosita.

"You seen Donna anywhere?" he asked.

Rosita shrugged. "Nope. She hasn't turned up."

"Ah. Well, never mind. Donna's clever. She'll turn up eventually. Always does. She's good like that." And then he looked over his shoulder towards the entrance. "Aren't you, Donna?"

Rosita and the other Doctor turned to look and were surprised to see a rather tired-looking Donna stumble in through the doorway. "Doctor!" she called out, hurrying towards him.

"Donna, knew you'd be alright!" he said, pulling her in for a hug. "What happened?"

"Those things were at the cemetery," Donna said, gasping for breath. "Those whatsits… The hairy things, and a bunch of those metal men…"

"Cybermen?"

"That's right. Blimey, I need to sit for a minute…"

"There's a chair over here," Rosita said, apparently more courteous once her life wasn't in danger.

"Thank you. Nice place you got here."

As Donna sat down in the old chair, the Doctor paced the room. "So the Cybermen were at the funeral? What happened?"

"They were brought there by this woman."

"Woman?"

"A woman in red turned up at the funeral. She said she was friends with the Cybermen. They killed everyone except for four men, who she said she was taking with them somewhere."

"Interesting," the other Doctor remarked, settling into his new coat. "Your bravery matches that of your friend here, madam."

"Oh, cheers, mate," Donna said with a slight grin.

"What happened to you two?" Rosita asked.

"A confrontation with two Cybermen in the Reverend's home. Oh, but my new friend is a fighter, Rosita, much like myself. He faced the Cybermen with a cutlass. I am not ashamed to say, he was quite braver than I."

"Oh, go on," the Doctor said, waving him away playfully.

"Cutlass, eh?" Donna asked, raising an eyebrow. "You feeling better then?"

"Er, a bit, yeah… Had a touch of…," he glanced at the other Doctor, "…indigestion, but I'm fine now. All well and good. Besides, it was the Doctor here who saved me. What a team, eh?"

The other Doctor chuckled. "Indeed."

Donna finally took in the room. "'Ere, what's all that luggage over there?"

"Evidence," the other Doctor replied, glancing at the piles of bags he'd gotten his coat from. "The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered."

"Right…," the Doctor said, taking a closer look at the bags.

Donna and Rosita noticed him pulling out his sonic screwdriver, but he put a finger to his lips and winked as he ran a quick scan while the other Doctor wasn't look.

"Are you whistling again?" the other Doctor asked at last, turning to look at him.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor said, re-pocketing the screwdriver quickly. "I'm just gonna…" And he started going through some of the bags.

The other Doctor looked suspicious, but in the end, shrugged and went to check something on the other side of the room.

Donna and Rosita approached the Doctor as he dug.

"That's another man's property," Rosita said quietly.

"I have a feeling he won't be too upset. I imagine a dead man has other things to worry about," the Doctor replied coolly. "Besides, I got a blip."

"A blip?" Donna repeated.

"Yeah, a blip."

"What kind of a blip?"

"Hopefully a good kind of a blip."

Donna sighed disparagingly. "You and your blips," she muttered.

The Doctor just grinned and dug some more.

Donna turned around and looked for the other Doctor. She saw him staring into a fire. "How did you two meet?" she asked Rosita.

"He saved my life. Late one night, by Ostler's Wharf, this creature came out of the shadows. A man made of metal. I thought I was going to die. And then, there he was. The Doctor…"

She watched him for a moment before glancing at the Doctor himself, who'd been pretending not to listen.

"Can either of you help him, sir?" she asked quietly. "He has such terrible dreams. Wakes up in a state of terror at night…"

"Oh, no, Rosita," the other Doctor interrupted, walking towards them. "With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he's lost, he must surely have bad dreams."

"Yeah…," Donna said quietly, glancing at the Doctor, who looked thoughtful.

But the Doctor was broken out of his reverie by the feel of cold metal under his hands as he absently dug through the suitcases, and out from under an old jacket he revealed it.

"Oh, look at that," he said in wonder. "Jackson Lake had an Infostamp."

"But how?" the other Doctor asked, confused. "Is that significant?"

The Doctor glanced at Donna before answering, "Doctor, the answer to all this is in your TARDIS. Can I see it?"

The other Doctor smiled. "Mr. Foreman, it would be my honor."

And moments later, the Doctor and Donna found themselves staring up at the "TARDIS".

It was a balloon.

"There she is!" the other Doctor announced with great pride. "My transport through time and space: the TARDIS!"

The Doctor stuttered for a moment before he broke into an excited grin. "She's beautiful," he breathed.

"She's a balloon," Donna added inanely.

"TARDIS, madam," the other Doctor corrected. "T-A-R-D-I-S. It stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style. Do you see?"

"…Yeah," Donna said slowly.

Once certain he was satisfied, Donna leaned over and whispered to the Doctor, "Isn't this the wrong era for hot-air balloons?" she asked.

"Gas balloon," the Doctor replied. "Same difference."

"…Yeah," Donna said again.

The Doctor shrugged. "Doctor or not, you have to admit, he's good."

"We're adjacent to the Mutton Street gasworks," the other Doctor explained, not hearing him. "I pay them a modest fee." And then he clapped the shoulder of a man standing beside the basket tethered to the balloon. "Good work, Jed."

Donna watched with wide eyes as the other Doctor handed over a banknote of significant value. "You carry money on you?" she whispered.

"Nope," the Doctor said, feeling the puzzle pieces sliding together in his mind.

"How's that ripped panel," Jed?" the other Doctor asked the man.

"All repaired," Jed replied. "Should work a treat. Never know, maybe tonight's the night, Doctor. Imagine it. Seeing Christmas from above."

"Well, not just yet, I think. One day I will ascend. One day soon."

"You've never actually been up?" the Doctor asked gently.

"He dreams of leaving, but never does," Rosita explained.

"I can depart in the TARIDS, once London is safe. And finally, when I'm up there… Think of it, Ian. Time and the space."

"The perfect escape… Do you ever wonder what you're escaping from?"

"With every moment," the other Doctor said sadly.

"Then…do you want me to tell you? Because I think I've worked it out now, how you became the Doctor. What do you think? Do you want to know?"

The other Doctor stared at him with a longing to know the truth.

* * *

><p>The two Doctors sat opposite each other around a fire in the stables. Rosita and Donna sat to the side, observing quietly, like good companions.<p>

"The story begins with the Cybermen," the Doctor said in his new youthful voice, which sounded so very old at the moment. "Creatures from a universe hidden beneath our own, just out of sight. But then a long time away, and not so far from here, the Cybermen were fought, and they were beaten, and they were sent into a howling wilderness called the Void. Locked inside forever more."

He waited for a reaction from the other 'Doctor', but nothing. No memories of Rose almost being pulled into the void before her not-father saved her. He was looking forward to moving on from that in this new life.

"But then a greater battle rose up," he continued. "So great that everything inside the Void perished. But as the walls of the world weakened, the last of the Cybermen must have fallen through the dimensions, back in time, to land here. And they found you."

"I fought them," the other man said. "I know that… But what happened?"

The Doctor paused thoughtfully before gesturing at the luggage with his head, making his floppy brown hair jump slightly.

"At the same time, another man came to London: Mr. Jackson Lake. Plenty of luggage, money in his pocket, maybe coming to town for the winter season, I don't know. But he found the Cybermen too. And just like you, exactly like you, he took hold of an Infostamp."

"But he's dead. Jackson Lake is dead," the other man insisted. "The Cybermen murdered him."

"You said no body was ever found," the Doctor reminded him. "And you kept all his suitcases, but you could never bring yourself to open them." He leaned in closer. "I told you the answer was in the fob watch. Can I see?"

Looking very scared, the other Doctor held out the fobwatch.

The Doctor turned it over.

Two letters were engraved on the back: J. L.

"J. L. The watch is Jackson Lake's," he said quietly.

Rosita seemed to be realizing the truth as well. "Jackson Lake…is _you_, sir?" she asked, almost accusingly.

The man was clearly in denial. "But I'm the Doctor," he said feebly.

"You became the Doctor," he told him, "because the Infostamp you picked up was a book about one particular man."

Picking up the Infostamp, he activated it against the wall. They watched all the different faces tumble over each other in rapid succession.

_The Grumpy Old Man_

_The Flautist Clown_

_The Action Dandy_

_The Wandering Bohemian_

_The Twitchy Cricketer_

_The Kind-Hearted Egotist_

_The Scheming Showman_

_The Forgetful Romantic_

_The Goofy Veteran_

_The Annoying Best Friend_

Donna smiled at the tenth face, while Jackson Lake's eyes widened. "That's him! That's the face I remember," he said.

"The Cybermen's database," the Doctor said wistfully. "Stolen from the Daleks inside the Void, I'd say, but it's everything you could want to know about the Doctor. Or, at least, it did. It's out of date now. I'll have to fix that."

And with that, the Doctor pulled out his sonic and aimed it at the Infostamp, giving it a once-over, and then aimed the Infostamp at himself and pressed a button, and it flashed, like taking a picture.

When he aimed it at the wall again, the image of the tenth Doctor dissolved into the eleventh, who smiled benevolently at them.

And then it seemed to click in Jackson's mind. "You're the Doctor…," he said quietly.

The Doctor smiled sadly. "Time Lord, TARDIS, Enemy of the Cybermen… One and the only, I'm afraid," he said quietly.

He flicked off the projection and held the Infostamp up for Jackson to see.

"You see, the Infostamp must have backfired, streamed all that information about me right inside of your head," he explained.

But this man opposite him was close to tears and paid no attention. "I am nothing but a lie," he murmured.

Realizing this had taken a wrong turn the Doctor leaned in closer. "No, no, certainly not. Infostamps are just facts and figures. All that bravery, saving Rosita, defending London Town, and the invention, you built your own _TARDIS_ – you, my friend, are no lie. You are Jackson Lake, and you are _brilliant_!"

"And what else?" Jackson snapped angrily. "Tell me what else. I demand you tell me, sir. Tell me what they took!"

Donna looked at the Doctor, and his eyes were the saddest they'd ever been in the few hours he'd had them.

"I'm sorry," he said with a sigh. "But that's an awful lot of luggage for one man. See, an Infostamp is just plain technology. It's not enough to make a man lose his mind. What you suffered is called a fugue. A fugue state where the mind just runs away because it can't bear to look back. You wanted to become someone else because Jackson Lake had lost so much."

In the distance, a bell chimed.

Rosita looked up. "Midnight," she said quietly. "Christmas Day."

"I remember…," Jackson Lake said at last, a choked sob escaping from his mouth. "Oh my god… Caroline. They killed me wife. They killed her…" And like such an ordinary man, he started to cry. And there was nothing wrong with that at all.

The Doctor watched him in silence as Rosita put her arm around him comfortingly. Donna glanced at him again, tears of her own in her eyes.

Before he could say anything to reassure anyone, there was a beeping noise coming from his hands. He looked down at the Infostamp and saw a blue light was blinking on and off. He held it to his ear and shook it slightly.

"Doctor, what's it doing?" Donna asked worriedly.

"Probably something very much not good," the Doctor replied, and he leapt from his seat and promptly began digging through suitcase he'd found the Infostamp in.

Donna got up to follow him and had just joined his side when he pulled out a long leather belt full of metal cartridges.

"Ohh, hello, my beauties," he said in amazement. "Well done, Jackson, you only went and found a whole _cache _of Infostamps!"

"But what is it? What's that noise?" Rosita asked.

"Activation. Call to arms! The Cybermen are moving!" And he tore out of the stable, leaving the belt in the suitcase. He heard Donna running after him as he ran out into the street.

Rosita remained with Jackson Lake, who stood and looked at her intensely. "The Doctor needs help. I learned that much about him. He's no good without a companion. Go with them."

Rosita looked torn for a moment, but she finally decided to do as she was told.


	5. Underground

The Doctor and Donna ran through the streets, searching madly. They were rather confused by the lack of stomping or more beeping. Instead, it sounded like a lot of regular people out marching in the streets.

Rosita caught up with them. "What is it? What's happening?" she asked.

"Someone's on the march," the Doctor said.

And then they could see the marchers. A man from the funeral, blank-faced, marched a herd of children down the middle of the road. They were workhouse kids, cold and miserable in their raggedy clothes, and of all ages. The older ones were in front holding lanterns. It was like a formal procession.

"I recognize that man from the funeral," Donna said, pointing at the old man.

"That's Mr. Cole," Rosita supplied. "He's master of the Hounslow Street workhouse. Maybe he's taking them to prayers."

"Nothing so holy," the Doctor replied, running up to the man. "Hello? Excuse me, do you realize that you have a bit of alien tech in your ear?" he asked, noting the ear pod in the man's ear. "Mr. Cole, if you don't mind, this'll only hurt for a moment…"

But just as he was getting out his screwdriver, one of those beasts came growling up at him, shooing him away.

"They're on guard. Can't risk a fight. Not with the children," he said sheepishly.

"But where're they going?" Donna asked.

"They all need a good whipping if you ask me," a voice said, and they turned around to see Jed was watching the march as well. "There's tons of 'em. I've just seen another lot coming down from the Ingleby workhouse, down Broadback Lane."

"Where's that?" the Doctor asked.

"This way!" Rosita said, grabbing his arm and dragging him away, with Donna following after.

They cut through some alleyways and arrived on another street and saw two more older men with blank faces and ear pods leading another group of children.

"What the hell is going on?" Donna demanded.

"There's dozens of 'em," Rosita proclaimed in amazement.

"But what for?" the Doctor wondered.

* * *

><p>The Doctor, Donna and Rosita watched the last of the children being led into the sewers.<p>

"What're they doing down there for?" Donna asked, involuntarily crinkling her nose.

"Not sure. We're not about to find out by following them anyway. That's too well-guarded," the Doctor said. "Better find another way in."

They moved back around a corner and stopped dead. Two Cybermen flanked Miss Hartigan, as she casually held her red parasol.

"Whoa!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Got your legs on silent, have you? Lady in red, Donna?"

"Lady in red," Donna agreed.

"Right then, you're in cahoots with the Cybermen, so I'm going to have to ask you where you last had your sanity because you've clearly misplaced it."

Miss Hartigan smiled. "Ooh, what have we here?" she purred. "Such a smart mouth for such a young man."

"I'm hardly young, I assure you, madam. I'll get right to the point. What have they offered you?"

"The one thing I've ever wanted: Liberation."

"Who are you?" Rosita asked.

Miss Hartigan eyed her disdainfully. "You can be quiet! I doubt they paid you to talk!"

Rosita looked _very _hurt by that comment. Donna let out an indignant gasp and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, while the Doctor's eyes flashed momentarily, showing no change in expression as Miss Hartigan continued to address him.

"More importantly, who are you, sir, with such intimate knowledge of my companions?"

"I'm the Doctor," he replied evenly.

"Incorrect," one of the Cybermen spoke up. "You do not correspond to our image of the Doctor."

"Yeah, that'll be my fault. I've changed a bit since you last saw me. Brand new face, first time on, and your database is a tad corrupted. Easily fixed. Here," he said, pulling out the Infostamp. "I've updated the Doctor's infostamp. Have a look."

He threw it across to the Cyberman, who caught it and opened the cap, peering inside.

"Plug it in. Go on. I dare you. Download away."

"The core has been damaged. This infostamp would damage Cyber units."

The Doctor shrugged. "Eh, I took a shot."

Donna rolled her eyes disparagingly.

"Core repaired," the Cyberman announced. "Download."

And he plugged the infostamp into a port that appeared in his chest. After a brief moment of silence…

"You are the Doctor."

"Yo," he replied with a tired wave.

"You will be deleted."

"Ahh, but let me go out with a smile, eh?" he said, turning to Miss Hartigan again. "Tell me what you need those children for?"

"What are children ever needed for? They're a workforce," she replied with a grin.

"But what for?"

"Very soon now the whole Empire will see. And they will bow down in worship."

"And it's all in time for Christmas Day. Was that your idea, Miss…?"

"Hartigan. And yes, the perfect day for a birth, with a new message for the people. Only this time it won't be the words of a man."

"The birth of what?"

"A birth and a death: namely yours. Thank you, Doctor. Glad to have been part of your very last conversation. Now, delete them."

"Delete," one of the Cybermen said, raising his gun.

The Doctor was just putting himself in front of Donna and Rosita when a familiar blue and white light shot at the Cybermen and engulfed them. They clutched at the handles on either side of their heads as they collapsed in agony.

"They have got the most posh moans of pain I've ever heard," Donna said quietly.

"You should've heard the originals," the Doctor murmured.

And they looked up and saw Jackson Lake, standing heroically with a belt of Infostamps strapped diagonally across his torso.

"At your service, Doctor," he said grimly.

Before anyone could voice their gratitude, Miss Hartigan shouted out to figures they couldn't see. "_Sha-a-a-a-ades_!" she hollered. "_Sha-a-a-a-a-a-a-ades!_"

"Shades!" the Doctor exclaimed as the others started to run. "_That's _what you call those things! Beautiful! Off we go!"

"_Sha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ades!_" she screamed again.

"One last thing," Rosita said as the others ran past her. She stepped back and threw a solid punch that knocked Miss Hartigan to the ground.

The Doctor stared, a mixture of shock and amusement. "Ooh, can I just say, I _completely _disapprove! Come on!"

And they ran into the darkness.

But they could hear Miss Hartigan shouting orders at the creatures as they fled, and they dimly heard something about a CyberKing.

They stopped behind a house, hidden in the shadows.

The Doctor looked at Jackson. "That stronghold down by the river. We've got to find a way in."

Jackson smiled tiredly. "I'm ahead of you," he said. "My wife and I were moving to London so I could take up a post at the University. And while my memory is still not intact, this was in my luggage." He pulled a bundle of paper out of his pocket. "The deeds," he explained. "15 Latimer Street. And if I discovered the Cybermen there, in the cellar, then that might be our way in!"

"Genius!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"There's still more," Jackson continued. "I remember the cellar, and my wife, but I swear there was something else in that room. If we can find that, perhaps that's the key to defeating these invaders. So, onwards!"

"After you," the Doctor replied.

Jackson led the way towards his house.

They watched as the Cyberman guarding the cellar fell dead down the stairs and into the room.

The Doctor ran past them and down the stairs and into the room. He stared at what he saw. There was a metallic plinth in the middle of the room.

"What's that?" Donna asked.

"A dimension vault," the Doctor said, rather surprised. "Stolen from the Daleks again. That's how the Cybermen traveled through time."

"What's it do?" asked Rosita.

"Suffice to say it's a silly swirly thing. Probably not important to us now, so I'm guessing this isn't what you can't remember, Jackson?"

"I don't think so," Jackson replied. He paused in thought. "But I just can't see. It's like it's hidden."

"It must be important to you," Donna supplied. "Something personal of yours."

"Give it time," the Doctor assured him. "Come on, let's keep moving."

They found the internal door, and that led to a long tunnel. They trekked inside.

But halfway through, they heard a low humming noise. It was growing steadily louder.

"Sounds like something's powering up," Donna whispered.

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed.

"But what do the Cybermen want?" Rosita asked.

"They want you," the Doctor whispered. "That's what Cybermen are: they're human beings, with their brains put into metal shells. They want every living being to be like them. They're not out to destroy humanity. They want to help it. Trouble is, they've got some warped reasoning…"

Sometime later, they arrived at the mouth of the tunnel, where they stared in horror at what they saw.

A huge machine filled the area, towering high above them. Huge cogs were turning, and children were turning them at various levels. There were wooden platforms upon which more children worked, pushing cogs and carrying coal for the furnaces, up and down some zigzagging stairs.

"'Pon my soul," Jackson whispered.

"What is it?" Rosita asked.

"It's an engine," the Doctor replied with a frown. "Generating electricity."

"But what for?" Donna asked.

"We could set them free," Jackson suggested, holding an infostamp and eyeing the two Cybermen on guard.

"No, no, not yet…," the Doctor said, holding him back. "Hang on a minute…"

And he turned and ran up towards a flashing light, which turned out to be a brightly lit dial on the wall beneath a spotlight. He pulled out his glasses and slid them on.

"Oh my word…," he said quietly. "I had no idea."

"What is it? What?" Donna asked, joining him.

"These are _real _glasses! Blimey!" he complained, pulling them off and putting them away, blinking heavily.

"Oh for God's sake," Donna moaned, smacking his arm.

"That's better…," he said, looking at it again with his regular eyesight.

"Power at ninety per cent," he said. "But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen come running, and then _blam_, _blam_, _blam_!" Then the screen changed. "Wait, hang on, what's all this…?"

The screen had gone blurry.

"What's that mean?" Donna asked.

"Power fluctuation. That's not meant to happen."

"It's going wrong?" Jackson asked hopefully.

"No, no, it's weird. The software is rewriting itself. It's changing."

"But why?" Donna asked.

The Doctor simply shrugged.

And then the device suddenly let out a cloud of smoke and sparks. They ducked away just in time, but the Doctor kept his eyes fixed on the small screen, which was now a rather pretty red color.

"Whoa! What the hell was that? It's out of control!"

"It's accelerating!" Jackson realized. "Ninety-six per cent, ninety-seven…"

"When it reaches one hundred, what about the children?" Rosita asked worriedly.

The Doctor stared at her for a few moments before snapping his fingers in realization. "They're disposable! Come on!"


	6. The CyberKing

**Author's Notes: **_And wasn't tonight justs _nuts_? Aaannnnd..._

* * *

><p>They headed for the gate again. They were almost at the grille of the tunnel when a mechanical voice reached them through the long passage.<p>

"Power levels now at one hundred per cent. Delete the workforce."

And then the two Cybermen started marching towards the children.

"No, leave them alone!" Rosita shouted.

The children looked up in shock, stopping and fearfully backing away.

And then Jackson took out an infostamp and tossed it to her. They both aimed their weapons, fired, and struck both Cybermen, who shuddered and died on the floor.

The Doctor appeared over the children. "Right! Well done, kids! Now get out now! All of you! Every single child! Run!"

The children promptly dropped whatever tools they had and ran as fast as they could.

Soon, the Doctor, Donna, Jackson and Rosita were all encouraging the children to run, shouting and promising them pie, hurrying them along.

"Go that way!" Jackson ordered, showing them the way out.

And the children ran that way, coming down from the higher levels, down the stairs.

"Rosita!" the Doctor called. "Get them out of the sluice gate! And once you're out, keep running. Far as you can!"

Rosita nodded and ran with the children, all heading for the tunnel. She could be heard shouting directions as she went.

The Doctor and Donna ran to all parts of the room, chasing the children away towards the safety of the exit. Finally, when they were almost all gone, he turned to one of the machines on the wall, taking another look.

Donna joined him once she'd made sure all the children knew which way to go.

"What now?" she asked.

"It's some sort of starter motor," he replied.

"Starting what?"

They didn't notice that Jackson had stopped. He was standing there, in a daze, watching the children run by. He looked from side to side, as if looking for someone in particular. He watched more little boys run past, and then he remembered.

He looked up and into the eyes of a little boy looking down at him from one of the platforms near one of the cogs. A scared little boy in raggedy clothes looking down at him with a familiar look in his eye.

"…my son," he realized. "My son! Doctor! Donna! My son!"

Needless to say, the Doctor and Donna looked up, rather startled, eyes wide and all. They bolted over to his side.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"They took my son!" Jackson cried, staring upwards.

"_What_?" the Doctor asked again, even more bewildered.

"No wonder my mind escaped!" he wailed, grabbing the Doctor's shoulders. "Those damned Cybermen! They took my child!"

"_What?_" the Doctor asked a third time, and then he realized he really needed to stop doing that.

Donna gasped when she saw the little boy looking down at them. "Oh my god!"

"But he's alive, Doctor! _Fredrick_!"

The Doctor turned and held out his arms to the boy, who was so far above them. "Come on! I'll catch you!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

But the boy didn't move.

"Oh, he's too scared," exclaimed Jackson. "Stay there! Don't move! I'm coming!"

And he ran for the rickety staircase, only for an explosion to go off near him and throw him to the ground.

The whole room was shuddering now. Flames were bursting out of the ground-level machinery. Rubble fell from the roof. Gouts of flame were bursting out all over the machine.

Fredrick was safe from it for now, but it wouldn't be long before his own platform went up in flames.

"What's happening?" Donna shouted.

"I think whatever they were starting up is on the move now, and it's something a bit on the _big _side," the Doctor replied.

Jackson looked around, but the staircase on Fredrick's side was burning. "I can't get up there! Fredrick, don't move!" he shouted.

Fredrick said nothing in return. He just stood on the edge and wept silently.

"What are we going to do, Doctor?" Jackson demanded. "What are we going to do?"

The Doctor stared at Jackson for a moment, and then he realized something crucial. He turned to Donna. "I've stopped cooking," he said at last.

"…What?" she asked incredulously. This new Doctor wasn't half mad.

"Jackson!" he continued, readdressing the other man. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm myself again too!"

And, much to everyone's surprise, he pulled the cutlass out of his own pocket.

"Bigger on the inside," he quipped, shrugging off his previous self's coat and tossed it to Donna, and he ran over to a rope and wrapped it around his arm. Then he swung the cutlass through the rope and was pulled up into the air, coming to a rest on the wooden ledge where the small boy was standing.

"Hello!" he said cheerily. "Fredrick, isn't it?"

He bent down in front of the boy, allowing Fredrick to climb up on his back.

"Now hold on tight and don't let go. Do yourself a favor and close your eyes, okay? I would."

He wrapped the rope around his arm once more, the other holding Fredrick against him, and got ready.

"Ready?"

The boy nodded mutely.

And the Doctor jumped off the ledge just as another explosion occurred behind him.

"Doctor?" Donna shouted. "_Doctor_?"

But she lost sight of him through the thick smoke, but she could still hear the rope creaking above them.

"Where are they?" Jackson demanded.

And then, in a blaze of glory, the Doctor appeared with Fredrick in his arms, swinging down towards them.

"_Geronimo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo!_"

And he came to a stop just inches away from Donna and Jackson, and he passed the boy off to his waiting father.

"Merry Christmas!" he exclaimed.

And there was the biggest hug in the world right there between father and son.

The Doctor untied himself from the rope and approached Donna, taking his coat back. He looked at it disparagingly. "Ohh, this'll never do. Look at this coat. Far too big for me now. Do you know it's been dragging on the floor all day? So annoying, I tell you… I should probably change these clothes…"

But he was cut off when she pulled him into a huge hug too, which he happily returned.

The collapse of nearby scaffolding cut the reunions short. The group turned to head for the exit, but an explosion blocked their path.

"Through the tunnel! Quickly!" the Doctor shouted.

They were just in time, because the minute they cleared the mouth of the tunnel, a ball of fire swept through the room.

They ran back into Jackson's house through his cellar and ran upstairs and into the open. They didn't get far, however, because the sight of a massive mechanical man stopped them short.

"What the _hell _is that?" Donna shouted.

"It's a CyberKing!" the Doctor cried.

"And the CyberKing means what?" Jackson asked warily.

"It's a ship, dreadnought class, frontline of an invasion! And inside the chest a cyber factory ready to convert millions."

"And I will walk! I will stride across this tiny little world!" a familiar female voice bellowed.

"Oh, you are _kidding _me!" Donna moaned. "It's her, isn't it?"

"Ohh, yeah," the Doctor sighed tiredly.

And they ran from the huge feet that came down towards them. If they thought the Cybermen stomped loud, the Cyber_King _was a different story altogether.

People in their nightclothes were yelling and screaming, trying to get out of the way.

"Its heading south," the Doctor said, looking around. "Jackson, take your son, to the parkland."

"But where are you going?" Jackson asked.

"We're going to stop that thing."

"But I should be with you!"

"Jackson, you've got your son. He's your life. This? This is _my_ life. Time for me to get it started again."

Jackson stared at him for a long time before nodding firmly. "God save you both, Doctor," he said at last.

And the Doctor and Donna ran off down the street in the direction of the CyberKing.

"So what do we do now?" Donna asked.

The Doctor glanced around. Then he saw an empty school building and looked down at his suit. "Something in there I need first," he said, heading towards the open door.

"What's in there?"

"Hang on. I'm sure there's one here…"

They entered the old schoolhouse, and the Doctor headed towards the back of the room. He found a storage closet and found what he was looking for hanging from a hook: a tweed jacket.

"Here we go. I'll be out in a minute."

And he slammed the door, with himself in the closet.

"What're you doing? You can't hide in a closet! Come on! What are you _doing_?"

"I'm saving this town! I need a decent shirt! Goodbye pinstripes and trainers! Hello, _me_!"

"_You're changing clothes_? What is _wrong _with you? You can do that anytime! You've to – "

She was cut off by the door opening.

The Doctor stood in his new garb: a tweed jacket with elbow patches, a red button-down shirt, black trousers, some heavy-duty black boots and a red bow tie. "What do you think?" he asked eagerly.

"…How'd you do that so fast?" she asked slowly.

"Nimble fingers. Let's go!"

He fled from the closet, but just as she was about to follow him, she saw the abandoned suit and trainers at the floor of the closet. With a heavy heart, she closed the door and left them, following after the new old man.

Back at the stables near the gas factory, Jed was watching the CyberKing with growing fear, getting ready to run for the hills.

At that moment, the Doctor and Donna appeared. "Jed! Hello!" he called out.

"What the hell is that thing, sir?" Jed asked shakily.

"We need your help!"

"I'm not going out there!"

"I'll give you five pound notes!"

"…What d'you want me to do?"

"The TARDIS is gonna fly!"

As they set to work, they heard the voice of Miss Hartigan over the city.

"People of the world! Now hear me! Your governments will surrender! The old men shall bow down, and they will come to me. To be converted into glory! And if not! Then behold my power!"

Donna stared up at her worriedly. "She's gonna destroy the whole city!" she cried, passing the belt of Infostamps to the Doctor. "How're you going to get back down again?"

"That's where you two come in," the Doctor said. "Jed, find some rope! Loads of it!"

"Yes, sir!" Jed replied, running back towards the building.

Minutes later, the Doctor was in the basket and getting ready to take off.

Donna and Jed were on the ground, tying the lengths of rope together, of which more than enough had been found.

"You're flamin' bonkers, you are, sir!" Jed proclaimed as he tied off the last piece.

"It's been said before," the Doctor replied. "Come on, Jed, let her loose!"

"Ever flown one of these before?" Jed asked.

"No! Never!" the Doctor grinned.

Jed ran up to the basket. "Can I have my money now?"

"Oh, get on with it you!"

The Doctor began to toss off the sandbags and felt the balloon lift off the ground. He checked that the ropes remaining attached to the basket were secure and watched as Donna and Jed continued to let off more and more rope, and still tied on more and more pieces just to be sure.

It suddenly became very lonely.

But the Doctor ignored the feeling and looked up at the massive CyberKing.

It took a long time and many sandbags, but he finally managed to level out around the head of the huge mechanical beast. Inside, he could see Miss Hartigan on what had to be the most ostentatious throne he'd seen in a few centuries.

"Blimey," he remarked. "You lot go all out for royalty. I'd like to see the Queen up there…"

He picked up the belt of Infostamps and wrapped them around his arm so that they all pointed in the same direction.

"Now this is excellent," he heard Miss Hartigan say. "The Doctor! Yet another man come to assert himself against me, in the night!"

"Hello, Miss Hartigan!" the Doctor called out. "Guess what? I'm going to do the decent and give you a choice! You have probably got the most remarkable mind this world has ever seen! Strong enough to control the Cybermen themselves!"

"I don't need you to sanction me," she replied.

"No, but such a mind deserves to live. The Cybermen came to this world using a dimension vault. I can use that device to find you a home with no people to convert, but a new world where you can live out your mechanical life in peace."

"I have the world below, and it is abundant with so many minds ready to become extensions of me," she replied mockingly. "Why would I leave this place?"

"Because if you don't, I'll have to stop you," the Doctor replied simply.

"What do you make of me, sir? An idiot?"

"No," the Doctor replied, and for the briefest of moments, Miss Hartigan could see the ancient and old behind the youthful faces. "The question is what do you make of me?"

Lifting his arm, he aimed the Infostamps at the window where she sat.

"Destroy him!" she ordered.

But his voice is calm and cool. "You've brought this on yourself. You make me into this."

And then he simultaneously broke the safety catches on all the Infostamps, directing the beam of electricity into the mouth of the CyberKing. For several seconds he did this, but then he figured that was enough and brought it to an end.

And there she sat, proud as ever.

"Then I have made you a failure," she snorted. "Your weapons are useless, sir."

"Someone as brilliant as you can't understand what I've just done? Miss Hartigan, you disappoint me," the Doctor replied, only half-mocking.

"What are you blathering about?" she demanded.

"I wasn't trying to kill you. I don't work like that. All I did was break the cyber connection, leaving your mind open. Open, I think, for the first time in far too many years."

Miss Hartigan blinked in her chair, and she looked around, suddenly so much more human than she'd ever been. She looked at the Cybermen surrounding her, and the Shades looking up at her, and the chair she was sitting in, and the insanity that had enveloped her.

"Just look at yourself!" the Doctor continued. "Look at what you've become! I'm sorry, Miss Hartigan, but just look at what you've done!"

And now she was screaming, and the Doctor wished he couldn't hear her.

"I'm sorry…," he whispered.

And she continued to scream and scream and scream. Sparks and flames broke out all over the throne.

And the Cybermens' heads were erupting with blue electricity. "Malfunction! Overload! Desist!"

But she was screaming with fury now, willing this to happen. Blue electricity raged all around her and them now. And then it all curled away to reveal that the Cybermen had all literally disintegrated.

And she slowly stopped screaming, gasping for breath.

By now, things had stopped moving down below, as the crowd had stopped to stare up at the CyberKing now that it had stopped moving. But now it was lurching forwards, towards the city, so they started screaming again.

But the Doctor didn't panic. He saw Miss Hartigan still sitting in the throne, the helmet connected to her head.

And he said two words. Just two words.

"Save them."

Miss Hartigan locked eyes with the Doctor for a good two seconds.

And she nodded.

And she concentrated.

And then, just like the Cybermen, the CyberKing began to vanish away, taking her with it, but saving the city as a result.

And then, they were gone, completely disintegrated into harmless particles.

The Doctor suddenly felt very tired. He leaned against the side of the basket and exhaled heavily. "Blimey…," he muttered.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>_You will note that CyberKing's destruction is different from the televised version. I went with RTD's alternate scene, which he declared would've been superior. Thought it wasn't bad, so I gave it a shot._


	7. Christmas Dinner

Down below, everyone had stopped to openly stare up at the sky. They were stunned by the sudden lack of death and destruction.

"What's happened? Where'd it go?" Rosita asked worriedly.

Jackson blinked. "Well, I'd say the villainous Miss Hartigan was not without redemption after all. She's willed the wreckage of the CyberKing to disintegrate into harmless particles." He looked at her in surprise. "Oh, I've picked up a lot," he remarked. "But here…"

He handed her Fredrick and stood on a platform to address the crowds.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I know that man!" he proclaimed splendidly, pointing to the balloon in the sky. "That Doctor on high! And I know that he has done this deed a thousand times, oh yes! But not once, no, not once, sir, not _ever _has he been thanked! Well no more! I say to you now, on Christmas morn, bravo, sir! Bravo!"

And he started to clap.

And then everyone started to clap. The whole street started clapping and cheering. It was infectious. The whole street was cheering and clapping at the balloon in the sky.

* * *

><p>Up above, the Doctor heard the distant roar of thanks and glanced over the edge of the basket. He could see the whole street, looking up at him adoringly, waving and whistling away.<p>

And he hated every minute of it.

He hated it so much he smiled back and waved. He was so revolted he rang the bell joyously.

Okay, maybe he liked it a little, but not much at all.

* * *

><p>Donna and Jed successfully brought him down with the rope, and they landed the balloon safely. They wandered through the recovering city as it snowed once again. They watched as people laughed through their recuperation, clearly fast getting over the adventure they'd all had today.<p>

They met up again with Jackson, Rosita and Fredrick and were all soon discussing what had happened.

The Doctor recognized the street they were on and started to lead a talking Jackson away from the group. They looked around, intrigued by the snow.

"The city will recover," Jackson said, "as London always does. Though today's events will be history, spoken of for centuries to come!"

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah… Funny, that," he murmured, eyeing a rather nasty crack in the side of a wall, but shaking the feeling off for now.

"And a new history begins for me," Jackson continued. "I find myself a widower, but with my son, and good friends."

They looked back at the group. Donna and Rosita were laughing with Jed as they coaxed Fredrick to wave at the Doctor, who waved back.

"Now, take care of that one. She's marvelous," the Doctor said, gesturing to Rosita.

"Fredrick will need a nursemaid," Jackson agreed fondly. "And I can think of none better."

They stood in companionable silence for a moment.

"But you're welcome to join us," the other man said suddenly. "We thought we might all dine together, at the Traveler's Halt, a Christmas feast, in celebration, and in memory of those we have lost."

The Doctor grinned. "Christmas dinner," he mused. "Haven't had one of those in a lifetime… What the hell? That sounds good right now."

Jackson looked surprised. "Really?" he asked eagerly.

"Doctor!" a voice interrupted, and they turned to see Donna, and for the first time, the Doctor noticed she was carrying his old trench coat, slung around her arm. "You forgot this," she said, holding it out to him.

"Ohh, my coat! I love this coat, even if it doesn't fit anymore! Did I tell you Janis Joplin gave this to me!" the Doctor exclaimed, taking it eagerly.

"Or she _will _give it to you," Jackson added.

The Doctor and Donna looked at him in surprise. "Yes, that as well," the Doctor said at last, grinning. "Hang on, just let me put this away…"

He turned towards the TARDIS and prepared to unlock the door. Thankfully he still had the key in this old coat, so he fished it out.

"Oh, and this is it, isn't it!" Jackson exclaimed, looking at the police box with excitement. "If I might, Doctor…? One last adventure?"

"Be my guest!" the Doctor replied, unlocking the door and pushing it open. He stepped aside and let Jackson in first.

Once he had entered, he slung the old coat over the coral pillar and put the key in his new pocket.

Jackson walked a few feet up the ramp, positively boggling. "Oh my word. Goodness me… But this is… This is nonsense!" he exclaimed.

The Doctor frowned. "I…suppose…," he said slowly, not sure how to react to that reaction.

"Complete and utter wonderful nonsense!" Jackson continued. "How very, very silly!"

Donna grinned as the Doctor visibly relaxed.

He took a cautious step towards the console, but then he jerked back, hands to his temples. "Oh, no, I can't bear it!"

"You alright?" Donna asked, now worried.

"It's making my head ache!" he replied, hurrying past them out the doors. "No, no, no, no, no, no! No!"

He ran back outside and rubbed his head, still smiling away as the Doctor and Donna stepped out after him.

"Gracious," he said at last. "That's quite enough of that."

"Yeah, I suppose," the Doctor replied, pulling the door shut behind him.

"Now then, where were we…? Ah yes, Christmas dinner! Shall we?"

"You go on ahead and get a table. I just need to do something real quick," the Doctor replied.

"Of course. I'll see you both inside."

Jackson started to walk away towards Rosita and Fredrick, but the Doctor called after him again. "Jackson?" He stopped and looked back.

"Yes?"

"…If anyone had to be the Doctor, I'm glad it was you."

Jackson beamed. "And I'm glad it is you, sir. The one, the only, and the best." And he turned and headed away again.

The Doctor smiled tiredly and looked at Donna, who was leaning against the TARDIS. "So what now?" she asked.

"Well, I'm hoping they have some apples… All I've been able to think about all day: apples. I love apples… I _think_ I love apples… Haven't had that many. Wonder if apples are my thing…? Hope I still like bananas…"

"Hold on," Donna interrupted. "We're actually going to Christmas dinner?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"That's a bit of a change from our last Christmas."

The Doctor looked momentarily guilty. "Er, yes, sorry about that. But having gotten to know your mother, maybe it's best I didn't, you know?"

Donna grinned. "Yeah, I suppose."

"Besides, we haven't eaten since Shan Shen, and I have a feeling you're starving right now."

Donna rubbed her stomach. "Yeah, a bit," she admitted. "But what was it you needed to do then if we're not doing a runner?"

"Are you okay?"

"…'Course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've just had your best friend change into some odd-looking bloke with a big chin. I haven't seen it yet, but I can feel it under my mouth, and this hair is floppier than a fish out of water. Are you _sure _you're alright?"

Donna paused for a moment, thinking out her answer in her head. "…I miss the old face," she said at last.

The Doctor nodded. "Well, that's to be understood. Bit of a shock. One minute spiky hair and skin and bones, the next floppy hair and big chin. Need time for familiarity. Hopefully you'll get used to it."

"I will. Because I know it's you. Always will be."

And in that moment, any insecurities either of them had melted away.

"Come on, time for dinner," the Doctor said, sticking his hands in his pockets, and putting out an elbow.

She looped her arm through his and looked at the tweed jacket. "You're _seriously _going with this outfit?"

"Why not?"

"I'm not sure… Just something wrong with that bowtie."

"Bowties are cool," he replied smoothly.

"Ohh, you sound like Gramps when he wears his old leather jacket."

"Leather jackets are cool too. They just don't suit me anymore."

"Oh, come on, you. I'm starving."

"Allons-y," he said with a wink.

And they carried on.


End file.
